Today, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced the affirmative preliminary determination in the countervailing duty (CVD) investigation of 100- to 150-seat large civil aircraft from Canada, finding that exporters of this merchandise received countervailable subsidies of 219.63 percent.

The Commerce Department will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to collect cash deposits from importers of 100- to 150-seat large civil aircraft based on these preliminary rates.

“The U.S. values its relationships with Canada, but even our closest allies must play by the rules,” said Secretary Ross. “The subsidization of goods by foreign governments is something that the Trump Administration takes very seriously, and we will continue to evaluate and verify the accuracy of this preliminary determination.”

Although Canadian civil aircraft subject to this investigation have not yet been imported, an April 2016 press release announcing the sale of Canadian civil aircraft to a U.S. airline valued the order to be in excess of $5 billion.

The petitioner is The Boeing Company (IL).

Enforcement of U.S. trade law is a prime focus of the Trump administration. From January 20 through September 20, 2017, the Commerce Department has initiated 65 Antidumping (AD) and CVD investigations – a 48 percent increase from the previous year. For the same time period in 2016, The Commerce Department had initiated 44 antidumping and countervailing duty investigations.

The Commerce Department currently maintains 411 AD and CVD duty orders which provide relief to American companies and industries impacted by unfair trade. CVD laws provide U.S. businesses and workers with an internationally accepted mechanism to seek relief from the harmful effects of unfair subsidization of imports into the United States.

Unless the final determination is aligned with the concurrent antidumping duty investigation, Commerce is currently scheduled to announce its final CVD determination in this investigation on December 12, 2017.

If the Commerce Department makes an affirmative final determination of subsidization and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) makes an affirmative final injury determination, Commerce will issue a CVD order. If the Commerce Department makes a negative final determination of subsidization or the ITC makes a negative final determination of injury, the investigation will be terminated and no order will be issued.

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Enforcement and Compliance unit within the International Trade Administration is responsible for vigorously enforcing U.S. trade laws and does so through an impartial, transparent process that abides by international rules and is based solely on factual evidence.

Imports from companies that receive unfair subsidies from their governments in the form of grants, loans, equity infusions, tax breaks and production inputs are subject to “countervailing duties” aimed at directly countering those subsidies.

In fiscal year 2016, the United States collected $1.5 billion in duties on $14 billion of imported goods found to be underpriced, or subsidized by foreign governments.